Folding stool



W. W. THUREN FOLDING STOOL Oct. 30, 1934.

Filed Feb. 12, 1934 WAL TEE M Thu/e2 INVENTOR.

Patented Oct. 30, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

My invention relates to folding stools, and particularly to those designed primarily for use by very young children, and has for an object the provision of a stool which will consist of but few structural parts, which, when adjusted to one position, will provide an exceedingly comfortable, well-balanced support for the child, and when folded to another position will occupy but little space and enable the stool to be conveniently moved from one place to another as desired.

With the above and other objects in view, which will appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the improved construction and novel arrangement of parts which will be hereinafter more fully described and particularly pointed out in the hereto annexed claim.

In the accompanying drawing has been illustrated a single and preferred form of the inven- 0 tion, it being, however, understood that no limitations are necessarily made to the precise structural details thereof, but that changes, alterations and modifications within the scope of the claim may be resorted to when desired.

In the said drawing,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the stool showing the same set up;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the stool showing same in its folded condition;

Figure 3 is an inverted perspective View of the stool;

Figure 4 is a section taken substantially on the line 4-4 of Figure 1.

The stool consists of a fiat seat member 5, side 5 arm rests 6-6, supporting members 7-7, a flexible back rest 8,' and a front retaining strap 9.

The seat member 5 is preferably formed from a substantially rectangular piece of wood or other suitable well-known material of the necessary thickness to render same sufficiently strong for the purpose intended. At the front, same is provided with leg receiving recesses 10. The supporting members 7-7 are low so as to position the seat member close to the ground, thus af- 5 fording a balanced arrangement that will serve to prevent the stool from tilting over when the weight of the child is shifted from one side to the other.

The supporting members 7-7 each include an elongated rail 11 hinged to the under side of the seat member 5 at 11a, so that it may be folded to either the position shown in Figure 1 or to the position shown in Figure 3. These members 7-7 occupy positions at the sides of the seat member,

, and when they are in the positions shown in Figure 1, the broad faces 11b thereof come firmly against the under face of said seat member so as to provide an exceedingly strong support for the seat member and to hold the latter in a firm condition when the stool is set up. The said members 7-7 are each provided with a pair of short supporting legs 12 and, as shown in Figure 3, the legs of one of said pairs are staggered with respect to those of the other pair so that when the stool is fully folded, the said legs will be flatwise against the under surface of said seat member.

The arm rests 6-6 each consist of the parallel spaced-apart rails 13 and 14, and the connecting posts 15. The rails 14 of said rests are positioned above the seat member 5 at the sides thereof, and same are hinged at 16 to said seat member so that when said rests occupy the positions shown in Figure 1, their broad faces 140 will come firmly against the upper surface of said seat member. When the rests are folded inwardly, as shown in Figure 2, they are disposed in parallel relation to the seat member and to the supports 7, thus enabling all parts to assume a more or less flat compact package form for convenient transportation or storage.

The rails 14 of the aforementioned arm rests 6 are provided with studs 17 which, when the rests are set up as shown in Figure 1, fall in vertical alinement with similar studs 18 on the rails 11 of the supporting members 7. The said studs 17 and 18 are positioned medially of the ends of their rails 11 and 14 and co-incident with these positions of said studs and mounted upon the side edges of the seat members 5 are stiff spring latch devices 19, each having respective portions 20 and 21, the former having a keeper opening 22 adapted to receive the coacting stud 17 of the adjacent arm rest 6 and the latter having a similar keeper opening 23 for the reception of the stud 18 of the adjacent support 7.

It follows from the foregoing description of the essential structural parts of the stool that the companion arm rests 6-6 and the companion supports 7-7 may be readily folded to either a position parallel with the seat 5 or at right angles to said seat. When they are in the last named positions, their lugs 17 and 18 may be readily engaged in the co-acting keeper openings 22 and 23 of the aforestated latch devices 19, at which time said arm rests and said supports will be firmly held in relatively rigid positions, as will be understood.

What is claimed is:

A stool comprising a seat having resilient latch members at its opposite side edges, the same having upper apertured extremities projecting above the plane of the upper surface of the seat and lower apertured portions projecting below the lower surface of said seat, side arms mounted upon the upper surface of the seat to swing inwardly, against the seat and adapted to be turned to occupy vertical positions and including bars running longitudinally along said side edges of the seat and provided with studs; the

said studs being co-operable with the upper portions of said latch members and engageable in the apertures thereof when said arms are turned to vertical positions, a flexible back connecting the arms together, and supports mounted upon the under surface of the seat to swing from horizontal positions to vertical positions and including bars having studs cooperable with the lower portionsof the said latchmembers and adapted to=ei1tertherapertures therein when the' supports are in vertical positions.

WALTER W. THUREN. 

